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A copy photo of Leonard Matlovich, in 1966, receiving the first Air Force Commendation Medal for attending to wounded comrades during a mortar attack.
Photo from the exhibit at the GLBT Historical Society on Gays in the Military.
Photographed on 6/12/07 in San Francisco. MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE/NO SALES-MAGS OUT less

gays094_lm.JPG
A copy photo of Leonard Matlovich, in 1966, receiving the first Air Force Commendation Medal for attending to wounded comrades during a mortar attack.
Photo from the exhibit at the GLBT ... more

Photo: Liz Mangelsdorf

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Retired Navy officer Steve Clark Hall with his items that are in the exhibit at the GLBT Historical Society on Gays in the Military.
Photographed on 6/12/07 in San Francisco.
Liz Mangelsdorf/The Chronicle MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE/NO SALES-MAGS OUT less

gays019_lm.JPG
Retired Navy officer Steve Clark Hall with his items that are in the exhibit at the GLBT Historical Society on Gays in the Military.
Photographed on 6/12/07 in San Francisco.
Liz ... more

Photo: Liz Mangelsdorf

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Sonoma State professor Steve Estes at the exhibit at the GLBT Historical Society on Gays in the Military.
Photographed on 6/12/07 in San Francisco.
Liz Mangelsdorf/The Chronicle MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE/NO SALES-MAGS OUT less

gays030_lm.JPG
Sonoma State professor Steve Estes at the exhibit at the GLBT Historical Society on Gays in the Military.
Photographed on 6/12/07 in San Francisco.
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Photo: Liz Mangelsdorf

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The uniform of Vietnam Vet Leonard Matlovich, who fought the US military for the right to serve, in the exhibit at the GLBT Historical Society on Gays in the Military.
Photographed on 6/12/07 in San Francisco.
Liz Mangelsdorf/The Chronicle MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE/NO SALES-MAGS OUT less

gays087_lm.JPG
The uniform of Vietnam Vet Leonard Matlovich, who fought the US military for the right to serve, in the exhibit at the GLBT Historical Society on Gays in the Military.
Photographed on 6/12/07 ... more

Photo: Liz Mangelsdorf

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Gay military service out for all to see

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For years, he maintained two different telephone numbers, addresses and names: He was Steve Hall to his fellow sailors in the Navy and Steve Clark to friends in the gay community.

A graduate of the Naval Academy and a nuclear submarine captain, Steve Clark Hall spent his 20-year career fearing he would be found out as gay. Now he is retired and living in San Francisco, and Clark Hall's story is part of an exhibit opening Friday that traces the history of gays and lesbians in the military -- from World War II to the war in Iraq.

The exhibition, "Out Ranks" at the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Historical Society in San Francisco, is billed as the first of its kind in the nation. It opens at a time of renewed debate over whether gays should openly serve in the military.

Steve Estes, an associate professor of history at Sonoma State University and curator of the exhibition, said he was struck by the power of the veterans' expressions of pride in having served their country despite a ban they found demoralizing.

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"For the most part, these people were hyper-patriots, even though they had to hide who they were in terms of their sexuality," said Estes, author of a recently released book, "Ask & Tell: Gay and Lesbian Veterans Speak Out."

The exhibition looks at the evolution of the nation's military policy on homosexuality, from World War II, when it was treated as a psychological disorder, through the Cold War, when gays were deemed a security risk because of the possibility of blackmail. It also spans the past 14 years of President Bill Clinton's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, which allows gays and lesbians to serve as long as their sexual identities are concealed.

"I remember when Clinton was campaigning and promised to lift the ban," said Clark Hall, the former Navy submarine captain. "I was sitting in a high-level meeting, and a commander said, 'You mean we're going to have homosexuals in the military?' "

When the uneasy compromise of "Don't ask, don't tell," was struck, talk on the ship turned to, "You mean we have these guys amongst us now?" Clark Hall said.

The question of whether to repeal "Don't ask, don't tell" took center stage at the recent back-to-back presidential debates in New Hampshire. Democrats argued unanimously that it was time to end the policy, while Republicans unanimously agreed that the time wasn't right to make such a change.

On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain of Arizona declared it would be a "terrific mistake" to reopen the issue with troops in the field. Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, said you don't make "fundamental changes" during a time of war.

In the Democratic debate, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York said the military should focus on monitoring misconduct, not orientation. She quoted Barry Goldwater, saying, "You don't have to be straight to shoot straight." Support for a repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell" was shared by Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

The exhibition, set in a small room on the third floor of the center, tells the story of numerous gay veterans through their personal effects and additional research materials. Items include:

-- The footlocker that Leonard Matlovich took to Vietnam. Matlovich, awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star, waged a public battle to stay in the Air Force after coming out as gay. He appeared on a September 1975 cover of Time Magazine with the headlines, "I am a Homosexual: The Gay Drive for Acceptance."

-- A distinctive blue certificate issued to soldiers discharged during World War II for being gay.

-- A letter from President Harry Truman commending Robert Ricks for his service as a World War II bombardier. Ricks' plane was shot down, and he spent months in a German prison camp.

There are also dog tags, uniforms, medals, newspaper clippings and video footage.

Michael Job, who spent 13 months in Vietnam as an Army specialist, has his tags, Bible and wooden rosary in the exhibition.

"I grew up in a small farming town in Michigan. I went to Vietnam in April of 1969, when I was around 18," said Job, now a peace activist in San Francisco. "I was trying to figure out who I was when I ended up in this mess called Vietnam. I remember looking around and thinking, if this is what it means to be a man -- with all of the yelling and being obnoxious and talking about blood and killing -- I was fine the way I was."

But he said he pretended to be straight.

"Guys would come back from R&R and show pictures of the women they had slept with. So when I went on my leave, I went on a boat cruise and I danced with a woman. I had her picture to show off when I returned."

He said that he has grown so disenchanted with the military that he no longer supports lifting the ban on homosexuals.

"My perspective is, leave the ban," he said. "I want my community never to have to go through what I went through."

Today, an estimated 65,000 gays and lesbians are in the military, according to Gary Gates, a senior researcher at the Williams Institute at UCLA. Gates said there are more than 1 million gay and lesbian veterans in the United States.

Patty Duwel, who was in the Navy from 1980 to 1999, said she heard of "witch hunts" to out lesbians in the military and learned early on to stay away from certain bars and hangouts.

"For me, my professional life was first, my personal life was second. I learned to keep my mouth shut and not draw attention to myself."

She is skeptical of the current debate over repealing "Don't ask, don't tell."

"The politicians say what they think their people want to hear," Duwel said.

Still, she acknowledges that public attitude is changing: A Pew Research Center report found that 52 percent of Americans favored allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military in 1994, while 45 percent where against it. By 2006, the majority had grown to 60 percent, while 32 percent opposed the idea.

The exhibit

-- "Out Ranks: GLBT Military Service from World War II to the Iraq War," is at the GLBT Historical Society, 657 Mission, 3rd Floor, San Francisco. A public reception will be held Thursday night and the exhibit will open Friday.